Killing of two NYC cops set to heighten racial tensions

NEW YORK — Tensions over race and law enforcement in the United States — already high following protests against police tactics that have roiled the country in recent weeks — looked set to mount after a gunman killed two policemen in Brooklyn.

The gunman — identified as Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28 — ambushed and fatally shot the two New York City officers point-blank as they sat in their squad car in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn before killing himself as other policemen closed in, the police said.

An Instagram posting that was apparently written by Brinsley called the attack retribution for the controversial deaths of Eric Garner, who was killed by the police allegedly using the chokehold — a forbidden move to take down criminals for law enforcement — in July and Michael Brown, an unarmed Missouri teen killed by the police in August.

The posting suggested Brinsley, who was black, had been angry over the deaths of Garner and Brown, who were also black.

The slain officers were identified as Mr Rafael Ramos, a 40-year-old Hispanic, and Mr Liu Wenjian, a 32-year-old Asian-American. Mr Liu had been married for two months, while Ramos had a 13-year-old son.

“Although we’re still learning the details, it’s clear that this was an assassination, that these officers were shot execution style,” said New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio in a news conference where he was flanked by Police Commissioner William Bratton.

Late on Saturday night, President Barack Obama condemned the murder of police officers, noting that officers who served their communities “deserve our respect and gratitude every single day”.

Mr Bratton said the officers had no time to react when Brinsley took a shooter’s stance on the passenger side of the squad car, opening fire with a semi-automatic handgun before fleeing to a nearby subway station, where he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The New York police have come under intense pressure in recent weeks. Widespread protests had erupted after a grand jury declined this month to charge the white police officer involved in Garner’s death during an arrest attempt in the borough of Staten Island. They came on top of demonstrations over another grand jury decision last month not to indict a white police officer over the shooting of Brown.

Screenshots taken by various media showed a now-deleted Instagram account attributed to Brinsley using the slang insult pig for police. The account said: “I’m Putting Wings On Pigs Today. They Take 1 Of Ours ... Let’s Take 2 of Theirs.”

The killings were also the first time New York City police officers have been killed by gunfire since 2011 and they sparked bitter anger among some police officers against Mr de Blasio, whom they see as not being supportive enough in the face of public anger. The Mayor has had a prickly relationship with law enforcement as he tries to balance regard for civil liberties with police concerns.

Mr Patrick Lynch, head of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association that is the country’s largest municipal police union, said: “There’s blood on many hands tonight. That blood ... starts on the steps of City Hall in the office of the Mayor.”

Reverend Al Sharpton, an outspoken supporter of the recent protests, condemned the attack. “Any use of the names of Eric Garner and Michael Brown in connection with any violence or killing of police officers is reprehensible and against the pursuit of justice in both cases,” he said. Agencies